HOT SPRINGS -- A Hot Springs man was arrested Monday morning on a felony warrant in the theft of $17,000 worth of poker chips from Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort on Friday.
Derrick Patrick Belton Jr., of 120 Pebblegate Trail, was taken into custody at his residence shortly after 10:30 a.m. and charged with theft of property over $5,000, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Belton, 42, was released Tuesday on $3,500 bond and is set to appear Dec. 10 in Garland County District Court.
According to the probable cause affidavit, a man, later identified as Belton, used his Oaklawn players card on Friday to play blackjack at Oaklawn.
At around 3 a.m., Belton is observed on video grabbing multiple purple $500 poker chips, with an estimated value of $17,000, from the rack in front of the female dealer and then running out of the building.
Multiple camera angle recordings were provided to Hot Springs police by Oaklawn. The video and still frames from the incident were compared to Belton's Arkansas driver's license photo, and he was positively identified as the one stealing the chips, the affidavit states.
A warrant was issued for his arrest Friday.
State Desk on 11/28/2019